The Swiss

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Television broadcast
Original title The Swiss
Country of production Switzerland
original language German , French , Italian
Year (s) 2010 , 2012 , 2013
length 50 minutes
Episodes 4 in 1 season
genre Story , docu-drama
production Triluna movie
First broadcast November 2013 on SRF 1 , RTS Un , RSI LA 1 and SRF info (Rhaeto-Romanic commentary)
occupation

Main actor:

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Die Schweizer ( Die Schweizer - Les Suisses - Gli Svizzeri - Ils Svizzers ) is a four-part docu-drama from Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) in which the history of Switzerland is thematically presented in feature films. Two parts deal with the early Confederation in the 14th and 15th centuries, while the other two parts highlight the founding of the state in the 19th century.

background

As part of a theme month in November 2013, SRG SSR's radio and television programs broadcast facts and myths about the development and future prospects of Switzerland in the four language regions of Switzerland . Around the four-part docu-drama on television in the was sending vessels Information and Culture and entertainment by Swiss Radio and Television (SRF) and all other business units of SRG deepen the subject.

content

Four films about historical personalities, which mark turning points in Swiss history, form the key points of the docu-drama:

Werner Stauffacher - The Battle of Morgarten

German-language premiere: Thu 7 November 2013 at 20:05 on SRF 1
In March armed raid and plunder the Schwyzer under their Landammann Werner Stauffacher and instigated by Empire Vogt Werner Homberg the Einsiedeln Monastery . They are excommunicated by the bishop and banished from the Reich by Frederick the Fair . His brother, the Habsburg Duke Leopold , takes a punitive action from Brugg, but is defeated by the Waldstätten in the Battle of Morgarten . Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden then form the union of Brunnen . In connection with this alleged battle, the question arises: what is myth and what is documented history?

Hans Waldmann and Niklaus von Flüe - warrior and saint

First broadcast in German: Thursday, November 14, 2013 at 8:05 p.m. on SRF 1
In the second half of the 15th century, the Swiss were a major military power. After their victories in the Burgundian Wars over the army "Charles the Bold", Duke of Burgundy , they were in demand as allies and, in particular, their soldiers as mercenaries ( travelers ). The dispute over the distribution of the Burgundy booty, the influence of the cities and the admission of Freiburg and Solothurn to the federal government led to serious conflicts in the fragile coalition. Characteristic of this epoch were the federal power politics, shaped by Hans Waldmann, and the mediating role of the hermit Niklaus von Flüe, who warned the Confederates " not to make the fence too far " and to stay out of the bargains of the world, with which he put an end to the threatening war prevented the quarreling confederates. But it was only the defeat at the Battle of Marignano that led to the abandonment of federal great power politics.

Hans Waldmann (1435–1489) came from a modest background, trained as a tailor in Zurich and took part in the wars of conquest of the Confederates. Because of his origins, he was denied a social advancement in the Constaffel society, and in the guild of the Kämbel he was promoted to councilor, and in 1483 to mayor of Zurich. He gained experience as a military leader as an ensign and captain in the service of the Bishop of Augsburg and in the Waldshut War of 1468 as captain of the Constaffel . In 1476 he led the Zurich and Friborg troops and the violence of the federal army into the battle of Murten and was knighted. In the last and also victorious confrontation against the Duke of Burgundy, he proved to be a capable military leader at the Battle of Nancy . Waldmann brokered Reisläufer to the European royal houses on behalf of the Diet and became one of the most powerful and richest men in the Confederation at the time. In 1489, after an uprising by the Zurich farmers, Waldmann was charged as mayor by an express court, convicted and beheaded.

Niklaus von Flüe (1417–1487) was a farmer and father of ten children before he went on a pilgrimage in 1467. According to a vision, he built a hut in the Ranft gorge , where he lived as a hermit without food. Since his death, many pilgrims have visited the birth house in Flüeli-Ranft , the hermit's cell, built in 1467, and two pilgrim chapels in the Ranft Gorge. Von Flüe achieved national importance as an intermediary between the 11 cantons and city-states of the Old Confederation .

Guillaume Henri Dufour - The General Who Saved Switzerland

First broadcast in German: Thursday, November 21, 2013 at 8:05 p.m. on SRF 1
Guillaume Henri Dufour (1787–1875) was a politician, cartographer, engineer and the first general in the Swiss Army. His humanistic convictions prevented the Sonderbund War from ending in a bloodbath in November 1847 , which resulted in a relatively small number of deaths on both sides. Together with Henri Dunant he is one of the founders of the International Committee of the Red Cross .

Alfred Escher and Stefano Franscini - Fight for the Gotthard

First broadcast in German: Thursday November 28, 2013 at 8:05 pm on SRF 1
Stefano Franscini (1796–1857) is one of the lesser-known personalities in Swiss history, at least in German-speaking Switzerland. As government councilor and national councilor of the canton of Ticino , he became the first Italian-speaking federal councilor . He organized the first census in Switzerland and helped found the Federal Statistical Office . With the support of the industrialist Alfred Escher , Franscini initiated the establishment of the Federal Institute of Technology and is one of the most important sponsors in the construction of the Gotthard Railway .

Creation and conception

Based on the documentary Die Deutschen des ZDF , the then director of Swiss television, Ingrid Deltenre , commissioned editor-in-chief Ueli Haldimann to develop a concept for a documentary on Swiss history. Haldimann planned to broadcast 1000 years of Swiss history up to 1900 in ten episodes on Sunday evenings. Representative female figures for Swiss history were of course also included in the original concept.

Those responsible for television in western Switzerland (Télévision Suisse Romande) considered the topic unsuitable for prime time . Deltenre and Haldimann argued that the series should also open the eyes of historically blind Swiss filmmakers , as it did with the refugee drama The Boat is Full in 1980 . As a concession to western Switzerland (French-speaking Switzerland) , the pilot film about Guillaume Henri Dufour was produced in 2010 and financed with funds from SRG and the support of Armin Walpen , then director of SRG. When Deltenre, Walpen and Haldimann left the company, the project was suspended for the time being. Roger de Weck, SRG General Director since January 2011, was enthusiastic about the pilot film and made the documentary a prestige SRG project . " The reduction from ten to four episodes was made for cost reasons, the decision was made by the management, " confirms SRG spokesman Iso Rechsteiner. With the savings decision, the focus is on “ turning points in Swiss history in the 14th, 15th and 19th centuries ”, and the missing portraits of women are justified by the fact that “ in this phase no woman had any verifiable influence on Swiss history has ».

production

Hintergasse in Rapperswil, one of the locations

The four-part docu-drama was produced by Triluna Film AG in Zurich at a cost of around 5.6 million (1.4 million per episode) Swiss Francs. The original pilot episode Guillaume Henri Dufour - The General Who Saved Switzerland was filmed in 2010. The large number of Habsburg troops in the run-up to the Battle of Morgarten was made possible by multiple digitally inserted original recordings.

Scenes in late medieval Zurich in which Hans Waldmann , who later became mayor of Zurich , was denied access by Zurich nobles to Constaffel , were filmed in May 2012 in the Hintergasse in Rapperswil . " We haven't found a street in Zurich that still corresponds to the image of the 15th century, " explained a representative of the production company. In addition to the actors and the production team, around 40 extras from the region are involved in the shooting . The shooting was documented on SRF 1 in the program Reporter from the perspective of two extras.

Appearance and reception

The four episodes were broadcast on Thursday from November 7, 2013 in the evening program of SRF 1 and from March 10, 2014 on 3sat .

criticism

Swiss history without women

Even in the run-up to the broadcast, there was vehement criticism that there was no woman among the personalities portrayed, that a one-sided view of history was conveyed and that SRG still lacks this sensitivity . 30 years of gender equality policy would be ignored. The critics included former National Council presidents , including Liliane Maury Pasquier ( SP ), Maya Graf ( Greens ), Judith Stamm ( CVP ), Thérèse Meyer-Kaelin (CVP) and Pascale Bruderer (SP). Yvonne Feri protested on behalf of the women of the SP with 30 signatures from the SP parliamentary group to Director General Roger de Weck against the male-dominated SRG project ; An email from Ida Glanzmann (CVP) to de Weck and Chairman of the Board of Directors Raymond Loretan went unanswered. During the parliamentary session, there was a debate with de Weck, who said, « ... the women who shaped Swiss history in the background could not be brought to the fore because they would not be able to pick up the audience. »The SRG refers to the supporting program in which historically significant Swiss women are also to be portrayed.

The historian Heidi Witzig suggested that the series was designed to be gender- blind, which should no longer be possible with the current state of historical research, for example the lack of Helvetica with the enlightener and writer Anne Louise Germaine de Staël , and that the writer could have been represented Johanna Spyri is of paramount importance for the image of Switzerland .

On an internal list of SRG with the protagonists of the TV series figured in the first concept among others, the internationally renowned painter and sculptor Sophie Taeuber-Arp and the Swiss-Austrian painter Angelica Kauffmann , the 1768 founding member of the Royal Academy of Arts was one . Mariano Tschuor, project manager and director of the Radiotelevisiun Svizra Rumantscha announced in interviews that the women's rights activist Meta von Salis had been deleted from the series under the direction of de Weck. In-house at SRF there is talk of a « women massacre without need » and that even in the docu-drama reduced to four episodes, the episode about Niklaus von Flüe could have been told based on his wife Dorothea, the abandoned wife with ten children prototypically for one The fate of women in the 15th century could have stood . " For the SRG, the balance in relation to the national regions seems to be more important than that in relation to gender ", criticizes Peter Gautschi, history expert in the working group for the curriculum 21 of the Swiss elementary schools, even if " ... it is for I don't understand why the SRG did not consider women ».

As part of the main topic, Susanna Burghartz and other historians debated in the show Sternstunde Philosophie about influential women from the Swiss past, u. a. Agnes von Hungary , Salome Burckhardt-Schönauer , Julie Bondeli , Josephine Zehnder-Stadlin , Emilie Kempin-Spyri , Lydia Welti-Escher and Margarethe Faas-Hardegger . In addition, following the first part of the docu-drama on SRF 1, the question "Where are the Swiss women?" discussed and whether the selected characters live up to the claim to provide answers to questions of identity.

Representation of an outdated view of history

The complete lack of historical female figures also alienated Burghartz, a history professor at the University of Basel, “there are no identifying figures for female spectators ... because men are often more tangible in history than women, at first glance they also produce the simpler stories ... However, SRG is making it too easy for itself. One should at least have tried to break this pattern ”and criticized a“ missed opportunity ”. Basically, she criticizes the fact that the SRG is content to convey history according to the well-known pattern - via heroic stories and elite-centered representations of decision-makers . « This is not how a history is conveyed that appeals to and integrates many people. It is precisely integration that is an important function of history ”. The contribution of women to the Reformation, to industrialization or to the development of modern democracy , epochs that were decisive for Swiss history and that are missing in the docu-drama, is also missing.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Die Schweizer on SRF.ch ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 20, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / dieschweizer.srf.ch
  2. ↑ a b c d e Christof Moser and Alan Cassidy in Switzerland on Sunday online (October 20, 2013): The women only kicked out under Roger de Weck , accessed on October 20, 2013
  3. ^ Statement by de Weck in Club Extra , SRF 1, November 7, 2013
  4. ^ Einstein (Wissensmagazin) , SRF 1 on October 30, 2013
  5. ↑ Ramona Kriese in Zürichsee-Zeitung online (May 25, 2012): When Hans Waldmann walked through the back alley ( memento of the original from May 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed October 20, 2013 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.zsz.ch
  6. ↑ 10vor10 of October 7, 2013
  7. ↑ A chivalrous supporting role , accessed on December 25, 2013
  8. ↑ Tages-Anzeiger online (October 13, 2013): Swiss history without women , accessed on October 13, 2013
  9. ↑ Christof Moser, Alan Cassidy and Florence Vuichard: Schweiz am Sonntag online (October 13, 2013): Women's uprising against SRG , accessed on October 14, 2013
  10. ↑ Christoph Bernet in 20 minutes online (October 13, 2013): Outrage over Swiss history without women , accessed on October 14, 2013
  11. ↑ Project curriculum 21 website , accessed on October 20, 2013
  12. ↑ Sternstunde Philosophie , SRF 1, November 3, 2013